Gov. Bayh Orders Investigation Of Highland Flood Complaints

Indiana Gov. Evan Bayh, responding to angry complaints from flood-stricken residents, ordered a state agency to investigate whether the construction of a bus terminal parking lot contributed to massive flooding in Highland.

Standing at the foot of a washed-out road, Bayh said he planned to ask the State Emergency Management Agency to investigate whether a new parking lot built by Tri-State Coach Lines had actually funneled water into the flood-stricken Wicker Park Estates subdivision.

Bayh said he had no reason to believe anything illegal had been done, but said he was acting after talking to area residents in an emergency shelter.

``There were a lot of complaints about the parking lot, and there has been rapid building development in Lake County,`` Bayh said. ``We want to find out if any local ordinances were violated.``

But John Shoup, president of Tri-State Coach Lines, insisted Thursday his company had complied with federal, county and city regulations in building the parking lot at the terminal.

He said that a railroad grade was sloped so it would drain into a retention pond, and that a 5-foot-high dike was built on the west side of the lot, based on consultations with the Army Corps of Engineers.

``I don`t think we could have stopped the water if we had a 10-foot dike,`` Shoup said.

Nearly 400 people in the subdivision were forced to evacuate before dawn Wednesday, when flood waters from the Little Calumet River, triggered by nearly five inches of rain, sent between four and five feet of water into the low-lying area just south of Interstate Highway 80-94.

An estimated 270 homes were under water Thursday, and Highland officials said no one would be allowed to return until the waters receded, which could take another two to three days.

According to the Corps, the Little Calumet River at Munster-Highland crested at 16.56 feet at 8 a.m. Thursday, or nearly 1 1/2 feet above ``major`` flood-stage levels. By 3 p.m., the level had dropped to 15.86 feet.

Bayh also announced he would ask President Bush to declare the Highland subdivision a federal disaster area, a declaration that would free federal funds for flood victims. Officials said checks of up to $11,000 for emergency aid could be in the hands of victims a week after a presidential declaration. Meanwhile, the Corps said Thursday it will spend $82.6 million, beginning next year, for flood control and dredging along the river.

The project will include replacing 9.5 miles of existing levees with 12.2 miles of new levees and floodwalls, and construction of another 9.7 miles of secondary levees to handle excess water during heavy storms.

The project is scheduled to take five years to complete.

As river levels in northwest Indiana and the south suburbs receded Thursday, traffic returned to normal on the Calumet Expressway, which had been closed overnight in both directions from 159th Street to 170th Street when water from Thorn Creek overflowed onto the highway. Thorn Creek is a tributary of the Little Calumet River.

But the southbound ramp onto the Calumet from West 159th Street still was closed Thursday night. Also closed were 135th Street from Harlem Avenue to Ridgeland Avenue near Palos Heights, the Wentworth and Burnham Avenue intersections at 170th Street in Calumet City, and the eastbound lanes of Illinois Highway 102 south of Wilmington in Will County.